Game rules

Akropolis rules: how to play and how to score

Reviewed on 13 October 2026 against the publisher’s rulebook. How we check

Akropolis plays 1 to 4 players: everyone builds their own City, tile by tile, flat or upward. Here are the essential rules, setup and final scoring, based on the official rulebook.

Players: 1 to 4 (solo against the Illustrious Architect)
Play time: About 30 minutes
Winner: Highest total; on a tie, the most Stones

Akropolis quick rules

The goal: Each player is an Architect building their own City. On your turn, take a tile and add it to your City, flat or on top. Your Districts score if they’re correctly placed, even more when built high, and Plazas multiply those points.
Taking a tile: In the center, a line of tiles forms the Construction Site. The first tile is free; for any other, pay one Stone per tile before it, and with no Stones you must take the first one. When only one tile is left, slide it to the first position, flip a stack to refill the line, and the Chief Architect marker passes to the left.
Placing the tile: Each City tile has three hexes. On the first level, it must touch your City along at least one edge. Higher up, it rests on three hexes with no gap beneath and overlaps at least two different tiles. A covered hex no longer counts, and each Quarry you cover earns you a Stone.
Districts and Plazas: Houses only count in your largest group, a Market touches no other Market, Barracks sit on the edge of your City, a Temple is completely surrounded, and a Garden always counts. A correctly placed District is worth its level: 1, 2 or 3. For each type, that value is multiplied by the stars on Plazas of its color: with no Plaza, the type scores nothing.
The end and scoring: The game ends when the stacks are gone and only one tile is left in the Construction Site; that tile is never played. For each type, multiply the value of your correctly placed Districts by the stars on your Plazas, then add 1 point per Stone. The highest total wins; on a tie, the most Stones.
Beginner pitfalls: A District with no Plaza of its color is worth nothing: grab Plazas early. Don’t spend all your Stones, and cover your Quarries to earn more. Build up as soon as you can, but check what you cover: a covered Plaza loses its stars, and a Plaza placed high is worth no more than on the first level.
With Athena: Four Construction cards each show a shape to build in your City. When your City contains it, you complete the card (once per card): take a section of the Statue of Athena and a Mini-tile, which you place in your City right away. If you complete all four cards, each of your Stones is worth 5 points instead of 1.
With Pantheon: The game becomes cooperative: everyone keeps their City, but you also build a shared Capital together. You hold three tiles; place one in your City, or pay one Stone to place it in the Capital. Each Architectural Challenge you complete earns a Divine Altar to place on a Plaza in the Capital. At the end, only the Capital scores, and you compare your score with the Scenario tile.

How to score Akropolis

Houses: The value of your largest group of correctly placed Houses (1 per District on the 1st level, 2 on the 2nd, 3 on the 3rd), multiplied by the stars on your Housing Plazas.
Markets: The value of your Markets that touch no other Market, multiplied by the stars on your Market Plazas.
Barracks: The value of your Barracks on the edge of your City, multiplied by the stars on your Barracks Plazas.
Temples: The value of your completely surrounded Temples, multiplied by the stars on your Temple Plazas.
Gardens: The value of all your Gardens, with no condition, multiplied by the stars on your Garden Plazas.
Stones: 1 point per Stone you have left. Stones also break ties.
Statue of Athena (Athena): If you completed all 4 Construction cards, each Stone is worth 5 points instead of 1.

Worked example

Emma: Houses 8 × 3 stars = 24, Markets 4 × 2 = 8, Barracks 3 × 1 = 3, Temples 6 × 2 = 12, Gardens 5 × 0 = 0 (no Garden Plaza), and 3 Stones: 24 + 8 + 3 + 12 + 0 + 3 = 50 points.

Common mistakes

Scoring a District type with no Plaza of its color: with no stars, it’s worth 0.
Counting the stars on a covered Plaza: only Plazas still visible count.
Adding up all your groups of Houses: only the largest one counts.
Scoring a misplaced District (a Market touching a Market, a Temple not surrounded): it’s worth nothing.
With Pantheon, the usual sheet doesn’t apply: only the shared Capital scores.

How to set up Akropolis

Setup takes about 5 minutes. Follow the first two parts, add Athena if you play with it, and the last part for solo. Pantheon has its own setup.

The tiles

Keep the City tiles that match your player count, and put the others away.Solo and 2 players: those marked “2+” on the back. 3 players: “2+” and “3+”. 4 players: all of them. A solo game uses the 2-player setup.
Shuffle the City tiles and create 11 stacks, face down.Stacks of 3 tiles solo and with 2 players, 4 with 3 players, 5 with 4 players. For a longer game with all the tiles: 19 stacks of 3 with 2 players, 15 stacks of 4 with 3 players.
Line up the remaining tiles face up in the center of the table: this is the Construction Site.4 tiles solo and with 2 players, 5 with 3, 6 with 4. At the start of each round, the Construction Site always holds 2 more tiles than the number of Architects.

Each player

Each Architect places a starting tile in front of them: this is the start of their City.The starting tile already shows a Housing Plaza.
With several players, choose the first player: they take the Chief Architect marker.The official rule: the player who most recently climbed a hill goes first.
Hand out Stones clockwise: 1 to the first player, 2 to the second, 3 to the third, 4 to the fourth.Depending on how many players are at the table.
Place the remaining Stones within everyone’s reach: this is the reserve.

With Athena

Shuffle the 18 Construction cards, draw 4 and lay them out along one side of the table.The others aren’t used in this game.
Draw 16 Mini-tiles at random and place 4 face up below each Construction card.Put the other Mini-tiles away.
Above each card, place as many identical sections of the Statue of Athena as there are Architects.One card gets the heads, another the torsos, another the legs, the last one the pedestals. Solo, place 2 per card.

With Pantheon

This cooperative expansion has its own setup, described in its rulebook: the steps above don’t apply.In short: choose a Scenario tile, give each Architect one of the expansion’s starting tiles and build the Capital with the others, flip 3 Architectural Challenge tiles with their Divine Altars, then give each Architect 2 Stones and 3 City tiles in hand.

Solo: the Illustrious Architect

You’re the first player: take 1 Stone and the Chief Architect marker.Solo, you play against a virtual opponent, the Illustrious Architect.
Give the Illustrious Architect a starting tile and 2 Stones, in a play area of their own.Their tiles are simply placed in that area, without being connected to each other.
Choose your opponent: Hippodamos, Metagenes or Callicrates.Hippodamos, easy: all his Districts count as 1st level. Metagenes, medium: the same, and each Quarry earns him 2 points. Callicrates, hard: all his Districts count as 2nd level.

Frequently asked questions

Who goes first in Akropolis?

According to the rules, the player who most recently climbed a hill. They take the Chief Architect marker and 1 Stone; the next players take 2, 3 and 4.

How much does a tile cost in Akropolis?

The first tile in the Construction Site is free. For any other, pay one Stone per tile before it: the third tile costs 2 Stones.

How do you score Akropolis?

For each District type, the value of your correctly placed Districts times the stars on your Plazas of the same color, plus 1 point per Stone you have left.

Ludingo’s Akropolis sheet was last reviewed on 13 October 2026, based on: gigamic.com 1, gigamic.com 2, gigamic.com 3, gigamic.com 4, gigamic.com 5, BoardGameGeek.